Hello ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SATURDAY SHORTS - your weekly destination to check out some interesting films created by fellow Ain't It Cool readers like you and me. As it's the first of the month, I figure we've got to do something to celebrate, and what better way to celebrate jumping into a new month than to watch a handful of scary movies? (Okay... well I'm sure there are better ways, just stay with me here.) We've got some films that have a dash of gore, some that strongly rely on pure tension, and then we also have a fun - not horror at all - short that's kind of a cool vacation into the heart of Manhattan just because I thought it was interesting and possibly worth your time. Speaking of time, with SXSW coming up - I've been a tad slammed over the last few weeks (in case you haven't noticed with my brief video intros). My sincere apologies to anyone looking for more than a brief intro, we've all been there (so much to do, so little time). At any rate, I enjoyed these films very much and hope you fine folks do as well. If you are planning on attending SXSW this year - hit me up! (Mike@aintitcool.com) I hope/plan to attend as many shorts programs as possible, so if you've got a short playing at SXSW, there's a significant chance I'll be in the theater and would love to chat with you after they screen. To those not going, it's all good - that's why SATURDAY SHORTS is here. I'll have another handful of fun films for you next Saturday that you can enjoy in the comfort of your own home, on your time. Enough chit chat - let's roll some shorts!

Bam! Freakiness aplenty here with director Alfonso Garcia's dip into the world of exorcisims. Fun fact: This thing was shot entirely on an iPhone 4s. "All hell breaks loose due to an exorcism on the phone." If you like what you see, then go hit up Alfonso's website!

A few months back, I posted the teaser for this film. I must admit I didn't keep up with it much after putting it out there. It kind of fell off my radar until recently and I'm happy to say - the film delivers on everything that trailer promised. It's well shot, well acted, and has a clean sound design. Congrats to director Joe Ballarini on a great short! "A little girl is haunted by a terrifying presence in her bedroom."

That last one was a doozy, niños in peril always makes for fun. Fun isn't exactly what this next one's about. It's a great film from Mark J. Blackman of Joker's Pack Productions. "A man. A child. Water. Death. A surreal allegory."

Hopefully you liked that last short, because this next one's from the same director. (Mark, you didn't think you'd get away that easy, did you?) "Starring Freya Berry and Jack Hawkins and featuring special effects by Dan Martin (Kill List, Sightseers amongst others), 'Skin' begins with your typical torture-porn set-up but soon turns the sub-genre on its head ending in something shocking, moving and ultimately much, much more disturbing."

With all this bloodiness/horrific fun, maybe it's time to swtich gears and slap a smirk on our faces? Good thing director DB Levin is here with his dark comedy to leave us all a tad more chipper than we'd be otherwise! "A melancholy comedy/homage to French New Wave and early Woody Allen films."

If you have a short and think it belongs here or are on the fence about whether to send it in, please do send it in - I'd love to see what you've put together. I've already seen hundreds of fresh new filmmakers' shorts and like any good addict, I need more!

Shoot me an email at "Mike@aintitcool.com"

In the subject line include:

“SHORTS” + “Your film’s name” + “The film’s genre”

Then, in the body of the email, please include a synopsis of the film and any contact information you might think I need or would want published. The more info you send my way, the more info there is to put with your short.

Please don’t feel the need to submit multiple times.

Remember, the filmmakers might still be in the audience, so feel free to share your thoughts in Talkbacks below. (JUST DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE). I picked them, so you know I think highly of all of these, but how about you fine folks? How'd you like 'em?

BY THE WAY: If you've had a short featured here, that means that I personally am a fan of your work, so feel free to shoot me any kind of news on new projects/films/whatever. I can't say I'll be able to help or in what capacity, but I'm interested in your work and am always down to see more! (Keep making cool stuff, everyone!)